Truth abandoned at sea once again

It matters that the Kurdish boat people sought asylum, and the Government knows it.

The boat people's motive seemed obvious to everyone, including the Howard Government. A boat arrived at Melville Island from Indonesia, carrying 14 people believed to be Kurds from Turkey. If there was any reason to think they had made the journey for some other reason than to claim asylum in Australia, the Government's response did not acknowledge it. Melville Island and 4000 other islands were retrospectively excised from Australia's migration zone, so that the Kurds' claims could not be processed under Australian law, with the access to Australian courts this would entail. But all the while the Government continued to insist that it did not know the Kurds' intentions, because they had said nothing to reveal them.

This denial was maintained repeatedly by both Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer until after the boat carrying the Kurds had been towed back to Indonesia by a navy patrol boat. Now the ministers' statements are known to have been false, on the evidence of the Government's own People Smuggling Taskforce.

On Thursday Senator Vanstone released a letter from the taskforce, stating that the Kurds had made numerous requests - to police, defence personnel and immigration officers - for asylum. But the minister's attitude showed no hint of embarrassment at this admission. What did it matter whether the Kurds had asked for asylum or not, she said, since by the time they made their requests Melville Island had already been excised from the migration zone? Senator Vanstone's attitude was echoed by Prime Minister John Howard in an ABC radio interview yesterday.

It matters a great deal whether the Kurds asked for asylum, and not only for reasons directly connected with Australia's obligations under international law. At the most basic level, it matters because the people of this country ought to be able to trust their Government to deal with them openly and truthfully. Senator Vanstone's about-face on the question of whether the Kurds sought asylum is merely the latest indication, however, that, on the issue of asylum seekers in particular, the Government is not willing to deal truthfully.

What has happened here is reminiscent of the way in which the truth was concealed in the scandalous babies-thrown-overboard allegations made during the lead-up to the last election, and the Government should be aware that each incident of this kind erodes public trust further.

The fact that the Kurds asked for asylum also matters because Indonesia, unlike Australia, is not a signatory to the International Refugees Convention. For the first time, Australia has returned asylum seekers to a place where their claims may not be assessed, and from where they may be repatriated. By turning people away without even allowing scrutiny of their claims, Australia has shamefully undermined the protections that, under the convention, it is obliged to offer.